Hey I'm back! I'm updating every day at the moment, because I have several chapters that just need editing, but they're quite short, so I'm just wondering whether you'd like to see long chapters with less frequent updates, or shorter chapters released every day? PM me or tell me in a review. Anyways, I present to you: Chapter 3 of my first ever fic, 'Just Let Go'! (This one is longer anyways) And also there are some ties to stuff from Earth, like the bands, as I'm sure you've noticed. Warning: A bit of bad language.
Surprisingly, when he was unconscious, none of the nightmares that had previously plagued him came up. He didn't even have a dream at all.
The first thing Chen felt as he began to wake, was a throbbing sensation as he groggily opened his eyes, his vision blurry. He sat up slowly, groaning in pain and rubbing his head. As his eyes began to focus more clearly on his surroundings, he realised he was doing something he hadn't done in a long time. Getting up in his own, proper bed. He looked around, taking it all in.
The sun was shining through the windows, and illuminating the bed he slept on. He took in its warmth and took a long breath, before stretching and yawning, sitting up, propping himself against his pillow. Then he remembered everything. Yang finding him, going back to his true home, and then getting punched in the face by a young child prodigy, namely his younger sister, Ruby.
He saw the door creak open, and turned to face it. Before he knew it, Rose petals were scattered all over the floor and found something headbutting his stomach. He looked down to see his little sister holding him in a crushing hug. She was pretty strong for a small girl.
"Oh my God I missed you so so so so so much!"
Chen smiled and wrapped her in a hug.
"I missed you loads too Ruby..." He said with a contented sigh.
"Oh and uh..." Ruby looked down, after she had retracted from the hug. "Sorry for... heh... knockking you out."
Chen smirked as Ruby characteristically went on a lengthy spiel.
"You see, I heard Yang go upstairs, and then I knew she was upstairs, and then you surprised me, and I thought you were an intruder seeing as the voice was masculine, and Yang was upstairs, so then my instant reaction was to lash out, and then I realised it was you, and... yeah, I'm sorry Chen..."
Chen chuckled.
"All you had to say was sorry Ruby."
"You're not mad?"
"Of course not, if anything, you should be mad at me leaving. And I'm sorry for that, I just had to do it to get revenge on those who put me through the torture."
"Did you manage to do what you wanted?" Ruby looked at him.
"No... sadly, but I did learn some important lessons," said Chen wistfully as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Then that's okay!"said Ruby, rather upbeat.
Chen looked at her questioningly.
"If you learnt some lessons, surely you would become a better person," explained Ruby . "And did you regret doing what you did?"
"Well I regret leaving you guys, but I guess... not really in terms of what I did while I was away."
"Then if you're happy, then that's great, I couldn't ask for anything more!"
Chen smiled ruffled Ruby's hair.
"Plus, you're here now, so that's all that matters," said Ruby as she hugged Chen once again, resting her head against his shoulder.
Chen's smile grew wider and he returned the hug, just enjoying the moment.
They stayed like that for several minutes, and eventually Chen pulled away and held her by her shoulders, taking a good look at her.
"You've grown quite a lot since I last saw you Rubes."
"Of course, I've been drinking lots of milk!" said Ruby happily.
Chen tutted and rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face.
"What?" said Ruby indignantly. "I have!"
Chen's smirk turned into a chuckle at Ruby's behaviour.
Ruby pouted. "I'll knock you out again!"
This just made Chen laugh even harder. "I'd like to see you try," teased Chen, knowing that Ruby wouldn't do that again.
Ruby huffed before jumping off Chen's bed. Then a mischievous smile crept onto her face, and quick as a flash, she slapped Chen in the balls before quickly running out of the room, disappearing, leaving behind yet more Rose petals.
Chen was in serious pain after that. He held his sore area and started hopping around after falling off his bed.
"RUBY!"
Yang heard a loud yell from Chen's room, and looked up from the couch to see Ruby run past her into the kitchen, a huge grin plastered on her face.
"Ruby..." said Yang.
Yang heard Chen thundering down and came the same way Ruby did, running past Yang.
"Chen?"
Chen ignored her and chased after Ruby in the kitchen.
"Come here you little rascal!" shouted Chen, still in pain from the earlier event.
"I'm sorry!" giggled Ruby as she avoided Chen's grasp several times.
Chen suddenly got an idea and used his telekinesis to shift a chair so it got in her way. Ruby yelped and stopped just short of the chair. Chen dropped it with a clatter and then darted in, grabbing Ruby and holding her upside down by her legs.
"Chen!" said Ruby as she dangled by her feet.
"Are you still ticklish?" Chen asked, a devious grin on his face.
"Uh yeah..." said Ruby before she realised what was happening. "Chen! Nooooooo!"
Chen used one arm to hold Ruby up, while the other reached for her belly and he began tickling her, Ruby squirming and giggling, whilst yelling at Chen to stop.
By now, Yang had walked in and was laughing at the events that were unfolding in front of her.
"Like a couple of rowdy kids," she joked.
"Chen please!" Ruby gasped. "I'm really sorry!"
Chen rolled his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes! Just please put me down!"
Chen carried Ruby over to the couch before playfully throwing her onto it. He smirked as he looked down at Ruby who was still recovering from the tickle fest.
"Don't mess with me again, short stuff," teased Chen.
"I won't be small soon! I drink lots of milk..."
Chen just laughed. "You've already said that before Ruby."
Ruby huffed and sat up on the sofa. "I really will knock you out again..."
Chen just shook his head and walked into the kitchen, grabbing some cold toast from the counter, and shoving it down his mouth all at once. (Please pardon the innuendo, it wasn't intentional, I promise) .
"Chen!" complained Yang. "Where are your manners?"
"Food ish food," said Chen shrugging, with his mouth full.
Yang tutted, but took the seat next to Chen, while Ruby jumped up from the couch and sat at Chen's other side, not wanting to be left out.
"Where's Uncle?" Asked Chen, who had finally swallowed all the toast.
"He's been pretty busy," said Yang.
"Yeah, he's not around very much," added Ruby.
"Oh right," said Chen, disappointed.
Suddenly, as if on cue, Chen's scroll, which he had left at home before he had run away, flashed up, saying that he had an incoming video call from their Uncle. Quickly, he picked up the scroll and put Qrow on the line.
"Uncle?"
"Chen!" exclaimed Qrow, a huge grin on his face. "Yang told me that she found you and took you back!"
"Yeah," said Chen, an equally huge grin on his face.
"How have you been?"
"Not bad, I missed you all like hell though!" said Chen. Then he paused. "Knowing you Uncle, you probably didn't call just to check how I was doing."
"Ah, on the ball as always, it seems," said Qrow, still with a grin present. "Well, I'm not sure if she has told you yet, but Yang is gonna be heading for Beacon Academy tomorrow..."
Chen looked at Yang. "Nope, she didn't tell me."
Yang grinned sheepishly. "Hehe..."
"Ah, well anyway, seeing as you're back, good timing too, I was thinking I could send you to Beacon too, you always wanted to go there, right?"
Chen nodded, the grin reappearing on his face. "Yeah! That would be really awesome!"
"I was positive you were going to say yes," beamed Qrow.
"But I'll be all by myself then..." said Ruby, pouting.
"You'll see us in a couple of years, don't worry squirt!" said Chen teasingly.
He got a dirty glare from Ruby, and he swore he heard something along the lines of : 'I drink milk...'
"Great!" said Qrow. "Well, I have to go now, it was nice seeing you Chen, and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person soon!"
"Bye!" Said the three siblings in unison.
And with that, Qrow was gone.
There was a short silence, before Yang broke it, pulling Chen into a trademark crushing hug.
"I can't believe my baby brother is coming with me to Beacon!" She squealed excitedly.
Chen just rolled his eyes and somehow managed to push Yang away. "For crying out loud Yang, I'm your twin brother! Not your baby brother, your twin brother! Y'know, twin being the key word?!"
"Someone's getting touchy," said Yang, her mischievous grin still evident on her face.
With a yell of frustration, Chen got up from the table and stormed up the stairs, locking himself in his room.
"Well..." Began Yang. "That was a thing..."
"Yang, you should stop saying that, he gets really annoyed when you do that," said Ruby.
Yang sighed. Then she grinned.
"Well, what kind of a sister would I be if I didn't annoy him?"
"Yaaang... Seriously, you should go and talk, I mean, he wouldn't charge up the stairs like that unless he was truly peeved."
Yang held up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, I'll go apologise..." She mumbled as she exited the kitchen and made her way slowly up the stairs.
Chen had immediately jumped onto his bed, and he took his scroll out and plugged in his headphones. Why couldn't Yang just quit doing that? He wasn't truly annoyed at his twin sister, and he still loved Yang and Ruby to death, but with both of them getting on his bad side today, he just felt like throttling them. He saw the door creak open, and saw Yang step inside cautiously. Chen just sighed and closed his eyes, listening to the music. He suddenly found himself in another one of Yang's bone-crushing hugs. He opened his eyes and sighed again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that today.
"What do you want Yang?"
"I- I'm sorry for calling you my baby brother, I mean, I-I didn't know you got that annoyed," she said meekly.
Suddenly, Chen just burst out laughing. The sight of his boisterous, loud and upbeat twin sister being so apologetic cracked him up. Yang seemed happy that he didn't seem mad, but still huffed indignantly, her apologetic expression changing into a irritable one.
"What?"
Between gasps of laughter, Chen managed to get out, "It's just, who would have thought of the mighty Yang Xiao Long being so meek and quiet?"
Despite herself, Yang couldn't help but laugh with him. After the laughter had died down, Yang looked at Chen hopefully.
"So you're not mad?"
"Yeah, not really no," said Chen, a smirk on his face.
"Yayy!" Said Yang happily. Then, she got up and ran out of his room whilst saying,
"Then that's great! Ruby and I are going into Vale, and you're coming with us too!"
Chen just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he mumbled, but nonetheless walked out of the door to join his two hyperactive sisters.
Five minutes later, he had changed into a Nirvana T-shirt, and a pair of ripped jeans, with Vengeance tucked safely behind his back. It was a warm morning, so he didn't need to put on many layers as he stepped outside.
"Are we walking?" Asked Chen.
"Yeah, there's only room for two on Bumblebee, and I'm don't wanna make anyone feel left out," said Yang with a grin.
"Can we just go already?" said Ruby, as energetic as always.
"Yeah, we're going, just calm down Rubes!" laughed Yang.
Chen ran a hand through his messy blonde hair before shoving his hands in his jean pockets and he walked with Ruby and Yang, exchanging some banter on the way. Chen smiled happily, he hadn't felt this carefree in a long time. He enjoyed the slight breeze against his face and he just took a deep breath. The combination of sun and breeze was perfect. Until Ruby jumped on his back and ruined the moment.
"Yay! Piggy-back!"
Chen was in a good mood so he just played along and ran around for a bit with Ruby on his shoulders. Eventually, they had reached the commercial part of Vale, and Chen offloaded Ruby's weight.
"Well it's about lunch time, so we can eat somewhere, then we can go and buy some stuff? Plan?" asked Yang.
"Sounds good, I'm starving!" said Ruby. "I hope they have cookies..."
Yang and Chen both tutted, with Chen rolling his eyes good-naturedly.
A few minutes later, the trio found a cafe that they liked, and sat down. Of course, Ruby ordered cookies, while Yang and Chen just went for sandwiches. Chen smiled as Ruby munched on her cookies, before taking a bite out of his own BLT sandwich. All was going well, and Chen was blissfully content. Of course, knowing his luck, his mood just had to change.
He wasn't sure at first, but then flashbacks, memories came back to him.
Lying down on the cold metal, helpless. A man, took a needle and injected something into him. Chen writhed in agony as whatever it was coursed through his system. He swore he could have seen an evil grin on his tormentors face. Chen thrashed about more and more, the pain almost unbearable. Then slowly, darkness, a thing he was quite used to by now, began to creep up, and eventually he blacked out, giving in to the slumber of unconsciousness.
He snapped out of it, and a growl escaped his lips.
"Chen, are you okay?" asked Ruby, touching his shoulder cautiously, while Yang had a anxious expression on her face.
Chen couldn't hear them. He felt so angry, the flashbacks were a reminder of what shit they had put him through. He couldn't stop himself, he couldn't stop his rage, as he stood up and marched out of the coffee shop, unaware of his two sisters chasing after him, telling him to stop. The man Chen recognised, was the man in his flashback. The man was just waiting outside a shop. With an angry roar, Chen steamed towards him.
"YOU!"
The man at first looked shocked, and then terrified as he realised just who was approaching him.
Chen lifted up his hand, his fury allowing him to use his telekinesis to lift the man off the ground, and flinging him into a wall.
"You're gonna pay for what you did!" Shouted Chen as he picked the man up again, throwing him against the wall again. By now, the man was unconscious. As Chen lifted him up the third time, ready for the kill, he then became aware of Ruby and Yang practically screaming at him to stop. This snapped Chen out of his murderous trance, and he sagged, letting the man drop gently to the floor. Chen sat down on the pavement, head in his hands. He had lost control. He had promised himself he would let go, and he'd just gone and almost killed that man.
The police had showed up pretty quickly, but they had let Chen go off scot-free, seeing as the man he had knocked out was a wanted criminal.
Chen looked over at his two sisters. There was no mistaking the fear in their eyes. They thought he was a monster. He looked away, back down at the floor, as the criminal was taken away by the police. Chen should have been happy. A man he despised was in jail now, and he had managed not to kill him. Yet, he had scared Ruby and Yang, and that was what was stopping him from being happy. Soon though, Yang and Ruby sat on either side, and comforted him, both rubbing his back. Chen tried to escape.
"Get away, I'm a monster..." he whimpered.
"Nonsense!" said Yang. "You're Chen, our brother, my ba- twin brother."
"But I saw the fear in your eyes... You were thinking I could hurt you too, but I would never..." Chen broke down in sobs.
"We know you wouldn't Chen," said Ruby sadly. "I mean, it was only because that guy hurt you in the past..."
"Yeah, no matter what you do, you're our brother first, anything else second," said Yang, squeezing him tight from one side.
Chen looked up and smiled. "You guys might annoy the hell out of me, but you're the best sisters I could ask for..."
"Cheer up Chen!" said Ruby.
"Yeah!" giggle Yang. "Cheer up Chen!"
Chen found himself laughing at their behaviour, and pulled them both into a tight hug.
"I love you guys..." he said with a smile.
A few hours later, it was approaching 5:00, and the trio had had the most fun in a while. They had got kicked out of a library after seeing who could shout 'cookies' the loudest. They had bought ice creams and slushies, and then they'd had some childish fun on a bouncy castle.
"That was the most fun ever!" said Ruby happily.
"I think you won in the library after you got up on the table and shouted it!'" said Chen laughing.
"Should we head back yet?" asked Yang.
"Uhh... you two go ahead" said Ruby. "I'm gonna go and look at some books..."
"You sure you'll be okay by yourself?" asked Chen.
"Did you even have to ask that?" asked Yang with a giggle. "Ruby has Crescent Rose! She'll be fine!"
"Yeah!" said Ruby. "Well... see ya," she said before zooming away, leaving a trail of petals behind.
Yang smiled at Chen. "Let's go home then Chenster."
Chen smirked. "You really are special, aren't you?"
"I'm not that bad," she pouted.
"Nah, you're not bad," said Chen, before grinning. "You're awful!"
A man and his dog walked past at the moment, and Yang's face lit up in to a grin.
"Don't you mean, I'm pawful?" she said.
Chen groaned. "And that proves my point exactly. Absolutely Appalling..." he complained, before realising he had unintentionally made a pun, thanks to Yang.
"That's the spirit Chen," she giggled.
"Son of a bitch..."
Well that was chapter 3, and finally a little bit of action, huh? Once again, I would appreciate it if you could review, follow or favourite if you like this story so far. And now I am just writing this so I can perhaps, maybe, possibly, preferably, reach uh... 3300 words. (OCD much).